According to statistics compiled by college football magazine producer Phil Steele, the Cowboys have the lowest percentage of returning letter-winners than any team in a power conference: 32 left the program, and 38 returned for a .543 percentage.

Among those losses were 28 seniors and 13 starters.

The Cowboys have 16 seniors on this year’s team.

Balance that against a Florida State team that has a starting offensive line composed entirely of seniors, five returning skill position starters led by Heisman-winning quarterback Jameis Winston and a defense with only one starter yet to reach his junior year, and the 17.5-point spread for the ’Noles seems logical.

But regardless of how young Oklahoma State is or how experienced FSU is, Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher is typically not conceding his team any particular edge when it plays the Cowboys on Saturday night at AT&T Stadium.

“They have great players ... always have great speed and athleticism there,” Fisher said of a program that Gundy coached to 41 victories in the past four years. “History tells you they are going to be well-coached. They are going to play hard, and they are going to be fundamentally sound.”

Gundy put his team’s inexperience into perspective earlier this week when he told his freshmen (as many as eight might start against the Seminoles) that they needed to turn around the youth factor and use it as motivation, rather than shrink from the defending national champions and preseason No. 1 team.

“I said, ‘You guys have a great opportunity,’ ” Gundy said during a news conference. “ ‘You’re playing high school ball last year, and now you get to play the returning national champions.’ ”

Gundy estimated that he might use 20 players who never appeared in a college game — against FSU, in the biggest indoor stadium in the U.S., on national TV.

The Cowboys will be especially young on defense, where they returned only four starters from a team that struggled a times. However, two of them are on the line, tackle James Castleman (11.5 tackles for losses in 2013) and end Jimmy Bean (a team-high 4.5 sacks).

Oklahoma State has the usual assortment of playmakers on offense but experienced its heaviest losses at receiver. However, tailback Desmond Rollin scored 16 touchdowns last season, and quarterback J.W. Walsh threw for 1,333 yards and nine touchdowns in eight games.

A wild card for the Cowboys could be Tyreek Hill, a junior college transfer and a native of Pearson, Ga.

Hill, a multitalented five-star player who was recruited by Fisher, wound up at Garden City Community College in Kansas and last season gained 659 yards rushing and caught 32 passes for 532 yards.

He helped Oklahoma State capture the Big 12 indoor track championship by winning the 200 meters and finished second in the 60 meters and fifth in the 200 meters in the NCAA outdoor track championship.

“Tyreek is a very unique talent,” Fisher said. “He is dynamic. He can be a running back, a receiver. He can do a lot of things. You have to know where he’s at, at all times.”